


Flicker of a Life

by vifetoile



Category: Little Women - Louisa May Alcott, Stardust (2007)
Genre: Drabble, Ficlet, Gen, Memory of Death, Reincarnation, Sisters, Stars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2015-10-24
Packaged: 2018-04-27 20:29:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5062990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vifetoile/pseuds/vifetoile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, Yvaine remembers another life, from before she was a star.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flicker of a Life

**Author's Note:**

> This is entirely inspired by the fact that Yvaine and Beth have the same actress, Claire Danes. Once the connection hit, it demanded to be written.

Sometimes, Yvaine remembers another life, from before she was a star.  
Such a thought is foolishness, pure foolishness – for what was there before she was a star? And she has been a star for thousands of years. And yet she can’t shake the memories that creep up on her, sometimes, like a dream that she had, as if she could have slept while dancing in the heavens. And yet the dream is so real.  
Sometimes, when she meets Tristan’s eyes, she remembers a boyish brother, with coltish energy running in his long limbs. Dancing with Captain Shakespeare wakes up the memory again. All stars are born to tread the celestial spheres in ecstasy and grace, but that’s not what Yvaine remembers. She remembers clumsy practicing, full of laughter and the occasional stumble.  
Sometimes she remembers sisters. She remembers a Mother-star, whose light was so strong that Yvaine couldn’t help but revolve around her, dizzy with love. She remembers three sister stars, the eldest nurturing, the youngest dazzling, and one, the dearest, the passionate and brilliant sister star, whose imagination seemed born from Faerie itself, who astonished Yvaine daily. But these weren’t stars, these sisters were flesh and blood and warm hands and bright smiles  
When she is first in a human body, and her leg is nothing but pain, she seems to remember, rather than learn, all of the nasty, disgusting things about being human. And when she has bad dreams, she’s trapped in a body of so much pain that it’s practically a prison-house, and her dreams always end with her leaving the body behind and waking up to relief.  
But when her mind wanders, her memory brings sweeter images: the old ivory of a piano, and the music it made. The tender feeling awoken by little dolls. The glint of sunshine on the sea.  
Sometimes, she wishes she could remember more of that girl she was, and that flicker she lived, that flicker of life compared to a star.  
Sometimes, when she feels the most blessed by love, she remembers that her name was Beth.


End file.
